1 Peter 2.11-17 11127PM@TBC

 Introduction

http://www.tulsabible.org/2011/11/honorable-conduct-1-peter-211-17/

A. Segway

B. Book Review

Theme: “Standing in the True Grace”

Outline:

1. Theology: Our Great Salvation  1.1-2.10

2. Application: Holy Among Unbelievers 2.11-5.14

a) In Submission 2-3

b) In Suffering  3-4

c)  In Church 5

C. Big Idea

Pilgrims glorify God.

D. Pray and Read Text (1 Peter 2.11-17)

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹² having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

¹³ Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- ¹⁶ as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

I. Acting out of this world  (11-12)

·        beg   parakaleō   lit. "to call to one's side,"

·        abstain  (middle voice)   apechomai  hold one's self off, refrain, abstain

·        honorable  anastrophē  manner of life, conduct, behaviour, deportment

·        day of visitation  episkopē   investigation, inspection, visitation

A. Who you are—sojourners and pilgrims

sojourners πάροικος   paroikos   in the NT, a stranger, a foreigner, one who lives in a place without the right of citizenship

also in 1.17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work, pass the time of your sojourning [here] in fear:”   —Geneva Bible

ylt, kjv—strangers; nasb, niv, wet—aliens;

nkjv, esv—sojourners; nlt—temporary residents

pilgrims  παρεπίδημος parepidēmos   one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives

ylt—sojourners; kjv, nkjv—pilgrims;

nasb, niv—strangers; nlt—foreigners

·        The context here (fleshly lusts which war against the soul) (among the gentiles) would indicate that “sojourners and pilgrims” is probably a spiritual, not a political, designation.  It indicates a mindset that motivates our thinking about things.

·        Abraham was a political foreigner.

Gen 23.4

³ Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ⁴ "I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

·        The patriarchs identified as spiritual foreigners in Hebrews and we are encouraged to think the same way about ourselves

Hebrews 11

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

What does it mean that we are sojourners and pilgrims?

1) ...he is not a permanent resident upon earth. —WB

2)  … He is not a member, does not belong.  Not part of—

3)  He is a citizen of Heaven.

4) He is “...a stranger in the world, he cannot accept the world’s law and the world’s ways and the world’s standards.”  —WB

B. Who you are not—fleshly

“Fleshly” is a spiritual designation in that it does not refer to the physical body. 
Our physical bodies are not inherently sinful, but can be used to honor or dishonor God.

abstain  “be constantly holding yourselves back from”  —w.e.t.

What are fleshly passions or desires?

Galatians 5.19-21

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are:

·        adultery,

·        fornication,

·        uncleanness,

·        lewdness,

·        ²⁰ idolatry,

·        sorcery,

·        hatred,

·        contentions,

·        jealousies,

·        outbursts of wrath,

·        selfish ambitions,

·        dissensions,

·        heresies,

·        ²¹ envy,

·        murders,

·        drunkenness,

·        revelries,

·        and the like;

of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

It is interesting to notice that there are 18 works of the flesh (when you include and the like) and 9 fruits of the spirit.

C. What people should see—honorable conduct

Two words in Greek  for “good.”

1) agathos, which simply means good in quality  —WB

2) kalos, which means not only good, but also lovely, fine, attractive, winsome.  —WB

·        The translations try to capture this idea with words like honest (kjv), excellent (nasb), honorable (nkjv, esv), beautiful (wet)

·        “The Christian must make his whole way of life so lovely and so fair and so good to look upon that the slanders of his heathen enemies many be undeniably demonstrated to be false.”  —WB

Transitional Statement: “The doctrine of the life to come can be perverted into a reason for neglecting life in this world.”  —WB

II. Acting in this world  (13-16)

put to silence  phimoō  lit. to close the mouth with a muzzle, to muzzle metaph. to stop the mouth, make speechless

bondservants doulos   metaph., one who gives himself up to another's will those whose service is used by Christ

A. Submit  2.13, 18; 3.1, 5, 22; 5.5

Break into small groups to look at the way Peter uses this Greek word.  Your translation may use a word like subject instead of submit.     1 Peter 2.13, 18; 3.1, 5, 22; 5.5

submit  hypotassō   to arrange under, to subordinate

hupo  under

tassō  to place in a certain order; to appoint 

32 times in NT  more in Peter than any other book

·        The words “submit yourselves” are the translation of a Greek military term meaning “to arrange in military fashion under the command of a leader.”  —Wuest

·        Not a strict synonym for obedience, but a heart attitude that usually involves obedience. (exception in Acts 4.18-20)

Submit to every ordinance of man

κτίσις ktisis : establish, found, create

ylt—creation; kjv, nkjv—ordinance;

nasb, esv—institution; wet—human regulation;

niv—authority instituted; nlt—authority

·        The phrase to every human institution gives the verse the broader application than just to civil government.  In fact Peter goes on to explain this general statement by applying it to not only to civil government (vv. 13b-14),
but also to encourage servants to be subject to their masters (2:18),
and wives to their husbands (3:1).   —Grudem

·        God has established such patterns of authority for the orderly functioning of human life, and it both pleases and honours him when we subject ourselves to them.   —Grudem

·        Notice the pattern of a general statement followed by specific examples is also used by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians five and six.

            5.21— ...submitting to one another

            5.22— Wives, submit to your own husbands

6.1— Children, obey your parents

6.5— Servants be obedient to …

“for the Lord’s sake”

·        Our motive to submit is not just pragmatic, not out of fear for the authority, not in hopes of personal gain, but spiritual in nature. 

B. Do Good

Accusations against the early church

·        cannibals (eat children) — Christians took in unwanted children and cared for them.

·        gross immorality at love feasts —

·        disrupt the economy —

·        break up families — 

·        primarily working class, uneducated, poor —

·        think you are so righteous —

·        atheists —  (Did not worship the Roman gods.)

·        unpatriotic — (Would not worship the emperor.)

—The Trial and Testimony of the Early Church, #3

put to silence  φιμόω phimoō  lit. to close the mouth with a muzzle, to muzzle metaph. to stop the mouth, make speechless

·        “When Plato was told that a certain man had been making certain slanderous charges against him, his answer was: “I will live in such a way that no one will believe what he says.”  —WB

C. Use Liberty

¹⁶ as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

·        Our Christian freedom is not freedom to sin, but a freedom from the world’s system to serve God.

·        Matthew 17.24  Jesus paid the tax that he did not rightfully owe.  Reference Jim Johnston’s sermon “Down from the Mountain” on Matthew 17.14-27

·        “A Christian man is the most free lord of all,
and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”⁷

⁷ Martin Luther, On Christian Freedom, trans. H. Wace and C.A. Buckheim, in First Principles of the Reformation (Philadelphia, 1885). 

III.

¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

·        There are some interesting thoughts on how to sort these four commands. 

·        One it to see the “honor all” (People is supplied by the translators.) which is aorist in contrast the the present tense of the other three as a general summary of the three parts below.

·        Another view is that the first two and last two are pares that contrast the duty to the spiritual family with duty to the gentiles.

·        A last few to see the whole thing as a summary with allustions to four diffents spheres of our relations.

APPLICATION:

“The best argument for Christianity is a real Christian.” —WB

What do people see when they see you?